The red line threshold has finally been crossed– but on unverified intelligence, encouraged by appetites for military intervention. It is Iraq all over again.

In February 2009 the Convention of Modern Liberty gathered a distinguished crowd who cared about the issues raised by a growing UK surveillance state. Their words are worth revisiting today. 

What is life like for gay men and women in Russia? Sergey Khazov looks at the country's gay infrastructure, and discovers a very fragmented picture.

The Greek government’s decision to close ERT has been criticised in various activist channels as anti-democratic or even irrational. Yet these activists and opponents of the ERT decision are held together only by thin strands and, in truth, represent heterogenous and conflicting interests and agendas.

The scale of change in China, and the intriguing perceptions of China's elite, persuade Kerry Brown of the need to think afresh.

George Orwell’s “1984” is alive and well in Spain as the Minister for Justice talks- up plans to deny women the right to an abortion, says Liz Cooper

Using cutting-edge human rights perception polls, the authors explore links between social class and domestic human rights movements in Mexico, Colombia, Morocco, and India. Social elites, they find, are better connected to human rights representatives than the masses. Translations: Español, Français. 

What does the data actually tell us about anti-Islamic violence post-Woolwich, and how do Briton's views of Islam and Muslims compare with the rest of Europe?

The death of Savita Halappanavar lifted the lid on the church, the state, and women's reproductive rights in the Republic of Ireland, and has been the catalyst for the new legislation on the rights of pregnant women proposed last week.

This is drawn from the remarks of Dr Dan Plesch at a meeting in the House of Lords chaired by Lord Phillips of Sudbury on Shareholder Accountability and a Fair Society.

It is activists, not states who will make a difference in future. But western-led rights organizations may have seen their day. Translations: Español. 

Hilary Wainwright reports from Thessaloniki on what happened when the state ordered Greece’s state broadcaster to shut down

Turkey's urban citizens are standing up against authoritarian governance, and for their right to the city, their right to difference, and their right to resist the top-down imposition of moral and spatial orders.

Flawed it may have been, but ERT, Greece's public broadcaster, was one of the few things holding the country together during these difficult times.

Valery Sidorenko and Sergei Ostapchuk, both tractor drivers, live together happily in a remote village in the Grodinsky region of Belarus. Alyona Soiko travelled there to meet them and hear their story.

Rouhani’s positive reputation among western powers when he led Iran’s nuclear negotiations provides Khamenei, if he wants, with the pretext for greater flexibility at this critical point.

During those rare moments when western media attention is turned to the country, it is usually with a focus on these security issues rather than on the democratic struggles of Mauritanian citizens. 

As the politics of aid to lower income countries comes under greater scrutiny are the needs of the poor in middle income countries being missed? And as 'big Pharma' flexes its muscles is enough being done to hold down skyrocketing vaccine prices to benefit those who need them most? The latest controversy is between two organisations that have the same goal - to provide vaccines to citizens of poorer countries.